Southern California -- this just in

Lindsay Lohan theft case victims didn't want her charged, D.A. says

August 28, 2012 | 3:38
pm

L.A. County prosecutors concluded they could not prove "beyond a reasonable doubt" that Lindsay Lohan and two other people had stolen items from a Hollywood Hills home.

Los Angeles Police Department detectives had presented evidence to prosecutors Tuesday after several days on investigation identifying Lohan as well as Gavin Lawrence Doyle and Andrew Nicholas Payan as suspects in the case.

Lohan and one of the victims in the case, identified as millionaire Sam Magid, had a "longstanding relationship," and he did not identify any of the suspects, prosecutors said.

Although one of the suspects made a "vague admission" that someone had taken something, none of the suspects was found with any property.

In addition, prosecutors noted in the filing that eyewitnesses in the case did not cooperate with authorities, and the victims did not wish to pursue a criminal prosecution of the case.

LAPD detectives have been seeking to talk with Lohan after several items, including cash, sunglasses and a credit card holder, were reported stolen from a home Aug. 18. Law enforcement sources said that reports of $100,000 taken from the home were inaccurate.

The incident is the latest in a series of brushes with the law for Lohan, who has been trying to put her much-chronicled legal troubles behind her and resume her acting career.

She was on probation for a 2007 conviction for driving under the influence. Since then she has also been convicted of shoplifting and was on probation for that offense as well.

Lohan was sent to jail several times for violating the terms of her probation. But she hewed to a strict regimen of counseling and community service at the county morgue. In March, a judge ended her probation in the DUI case and reduced the shoplifting probation to unsupervised status.

According to prosecutors, the victims were asleep in the residence about 7:45 a.m. Aug. 18, when they became aware that someone was trying to get into the master bedroom of the home. They searched for the suspects and saw a man later identified as Doyle standing outside the home.

The man fled. While trying to call 911, an unidentified woman at the home saw a newer model BMW parked in front of the home and a second man enter the vehicle, which then drove away.

When LAPD officers arrived at the home, the victims reported that keys from cars at the home as well as cash, sunglasses and a credit card holder were missing.

Day laborers working across the street identified two men and a woman who arrived at the residence in a tan BMW around the time the crime reportedly took place and then went inside. But police were unable to find any evidence of forced entry into the cars or the home.

A security guard interviewed by police said that at 2 a.m. that morning Lohan came to the home and wanted to enter the home to speak with Magid. She was told she could not come in and asked the guard if Magid was in the home with "some other girl."

[Updated at 4:59 p.m. Aug. 28: Prosecutors said they were not presented with evidence of any theft of watches. The $6,400 in stolen property allegedly included $3,000 in cash, four pairs of sunglasses, an iPod and keys to two cars and a house.]